From a growing population to great recreation to strategic location, there are many reasons why Tucson shines as a favorable economic climate. Perhaps no other city or region offers such a uniquely favorable combination of factors for living, working, and doing business.

Tucson Has the Components of a Thriving Economy
With convenient access to local, regional, national and international markets, Tucson and Southern Arizona benefit from a constant, growing flow of products and services for those who call it home. Tucson-area businesses serve over 34 million people within a 500-mile radius and over 55 million people within a 1,000-mile radius.

The Tucson region boasts a diverse cross-section of businesses, from its world-class travel and tourism industry to a resurging mining sector to a growing "clean" manufacturing presence. High tech and high-tech manufacturing make up one of the newer and most exciting areas of the economy here.

Tucson is ranked in the top-five metro areas nationwide for its concentration of companies and employees in aerospace and defense. This sector includes Tucson's largest employer, Raytheon Missile Systems, as well as Honeywell, Bombardier, Northrop Grumman, Dunn Air, and Evergreen Air Center. Texas Instruments is the employment leader in the local semiconductor sector. Companies such as Sargent Controls and Aerospace and Universal Avionics represent the diverse and established sector of aerospace instruments manufacturing.

On the horizon are major new developments in optics, nanotechnology, and biotechnology. The Tucson region is a R&D hotspot, home to 27 high-tech companies and organizations. The University of Arizona's (UA) Science and Technology Park houses over 7,000 employees and includes two million square feet of developed space located on a 1,345-acre site. Ranking as the sixth largest in the U.S., the Park is dedicated to innovation and transferring technology from the laboratory to the marketplace. Together with the BIO5 Institute for Collaborative Bioresearch and the Critical Path to Accelerate Therapies Institute (C-Path), these centers are bringing unprecedented high tech and bioscience growth to Tucson.

C-Path fosters and conducts research and educational programs that enable the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry to accelerate the development of safe innovative new drugs. BIO5's focus is to solve complex biological problems such as the treatment and prevention of disease and molecular agriculture.

Another vital part of the local economy is The University of Arizona's focus on technology. UA is a research pioneer with centers of excellence in optical research, photoelectronics, astronomy, hydrology and water resources, IT, sustainable systems, and biomedical research. UA is leading the Mars Lander mission, which launched in 2007. UA also forges new ground in advanced materials, environmental technology, aerospace, and life sciences.